OK bought a new to me 1985 34T MK III. has the 200hp Perkins.
No generator onboard. But the elec. panels are setup for one.
Any suggestions on a generator ? Size ? Mainly want it to run the water heater for showers and morning coffee. Maybe not at the same time.
Only way currently to recharge is by running the main or dockside. We have done w/o a genny for years (another boat). The Mainship had a genny at one time and we were looking at options.
Not a live aboard but looking at anchoring out for several days to a week or at least longer than we have gone before. Although we would probably run-cruise somewhere to another anchorage during that time frame.
As above, I'll have to run the numbers and see how long the batteries will hold up...
I've been thinking on this more... since we owned the same boat. Electric/alchohol cooker and AC/DC fridge.
We had an installed diesel genset, and used the electric galley... so we simply started the genset morning and evening to cook, charging the battery at the same time. That could get us through a week at anchor easily enough.
Solar didn't exist at the time
but as I think on it now, installing solar panels wouldn't have been all that easy, I think, given the bimini (IOW, no hardtop), unless maybe some of the roll-out panels could work. Deploying, connecting, disconnecting, stowing, deploying, connecting, disconnecting, stowing... doesn't sound too great, to me.
But another way to get through a week at anchor -- as others have said -- could well be a much bigger battery bank, an inverter for whatever small appliances that might be aboard, and a suitcase generator. I think the latter would be best running on propane... partly because it's reasonably easy to store propane safely, partly because that eliminates potential fuel problems with ethanol gas in MD), partly because quick safe storage would like be easier (no need to drain carb), etc. Genset sized to run the onboard AC, given MD summers.
Batteries, maybe a bank of four L16s for a 600-Ah house bank, or even six for a 900-Ah bank. Or maybe six GC2s for about 660-Ah capacity, or eight for 880-Ah. I'd maybe consider individual weight of each battery, lifting requirementds, before choosing. Charger eventually upsized to deal with that kind of capacity. Or maybe a combination inverter/charger to simplify installation.
And change all your lighting to LED.
IIRC, there was a single 8D battery, probably about 245-Ah, to starboard in the engine room, for both starting and house functions. (Sound right?) I think I remember you could park a '57 Chevy in the space where that battery lived, so I'd think adding batteries wouldn't be a space issue. Watering wasn't easy; today I think I'd go with AGMs, but there are battery watering systems for flooded lead acid batteries. If you simply add capacity, with no wiring changes, you'd still have the suitcase genset to charge in case you inadvertently ran the bank down too low (we had the installed genset for that). But it didn't take much in the way of cranking amps to start our DD 8.2T, so a charge from a small suitcase genset would very likely start your Perkins if necessary.
What I'm leading to is thought about what numbers to be comparing. Installed genset (including installation), maybe or maybe not some of those other electrical upgrades... vs. larger battery bank, invert/charger (for example), and suitcase generator.
But then also consider "hassle factor" with the suitcase thing. I dunno much about that, but others have made it sound like not too much twiddling.
Except for that electric cooking thing, and given all-LED lighting, I'd bet we could have lasted about 4-5 days at anchor without recharging, if we'd had an 880-Ah battery bank. Just a guess, though. The fridge wasn't all that efficient back then, at that would have been the biggest drain.
If so, maybe a simple spare battery and some jumper cables would be enough of a starting backstop, maybe no genset required at all if your Perkins will provide hot water reasonably quickly... and if your current fridge doesn't chew through batteries like our older one did... and if that's enough time at anchor between shorepower recharges... and if AC at anchor really isn't required...
And so forth...
I could see your way forward being incremental. Change lighting to LEDs, upsize your battery bank, put a spare starting battery and jumper cables (or maybe a jump pack) onboard, go anchor somewhere, see how long that lasts. Evaluate what else, if anything, you might want to do after that... If it's even close, maybe just upsizing your alternator would be an option, too, for some better charging while making hot water.
Hmmm.... I seem to have rambled a bit...
-Chris